Many people are deterred from trying a holiday afloat because of ill-founded
notions of what it’s going to be like. Opening our guide for first-time
cruisers our new cruising editor dispels the myths.

Cruising is the Marmite of the travel world, loved by most who have tried it, dismissed by many who haven’t. It’s picked on, sneered at (despite being worth £2 billion to the British economy), lampooned by environmentalists, stereotyped to the nth degree and apparently overlooked by anyone too young to remember a Beatles concert. Yet one in every eight foreign package holidays is now a cruise, making it the fastest-growing sector of the holiday trade.

So what makes it so popular? Access, for one. Stick a pin into any blue area on a world map, or locate any glistening ribbon of river, and the chances are you can get there by cruise ship. Anyone for the White Sea, the Lena, the Sava or the Drava? Precisely.

The best way to reach many off-the-beaten track destinations, including Papua New Guinea and the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East is by expedition ship, and in Burma, where hotels can’t keep pace with demand, taking a river cruise could ensure that you see a fast-changing country sooner rather than later.

Despite the Costa Concordia disaster in January last year, in which 32 people died, the Passenger Shipping Association estimates that 1.76 million people will take a cruise this year (up from 1.72 million in 2012). Fewer than 900,000, by comparison, took a skiing holiday in 2012.

Some of these passengers may find themselves sailing on one of the six new ocean-going ships to be launched this year – MSC Preziosa, Aida Stella, Compagnie Du Ponant’s Le Soleil, Europa 2, Norwegian Breakaway and Royal Princess. Six more such ships are scheduled to go into operation in 2014.

New ports, itineraries and destinations, coupled with innovations on board, continue to fire interest among regular and first-time cruisers alike, and the sheer diversity of itineraries and themes – wine, astrology, am-dram, photography, yoga, dance or “clothes-free vacationing” (ask your travel agent) – offered by the various lines means that finding a cruise that suits you has never been easier.

Certain destinations, such as Alaska, lend themselves to a seafaring experience; others can be reached only by ship. And it’s hard to beat a cruise if you want a first taste of the islands of the Caribbean.

My first and only visit there, by ship, packed in a scuba dive off Martinique, a lazy afternoon sampling the local brew under thatch on Bequia, a day’s hardcore hiking to waterfalls and thermal pools on Dominica, a tour of plantation houses, villages and waterfalls in Grenada, a self-guided walk around Kingstown’s churches, snorkelling with turtles off Tobago Cays and an overnight in Barbados. Much of my time on board was spent sprawled face-down on the bowsprit net counting the dolphins below.

Still not convinced? Our ocean-cruises myth-buster may help you make up your mind.

The myths and the truth

1. I’ll get seasick...

The vagaries of the sea can never be underestimated: the Atlantic can be a millpond in October and the Aegean can turn gale-force in August. But while it’s true that bad weather can strike at any time, modern-day technologies and stabilisers flanking the hull make it very unlikely that you will lose more than a couple of days to seasickness on board a mid-size or resort ship.

If you are predisposed to motion sickness, take precautions (pressure bands, drugs or natural remedies). Smaller craft, including the converted clipper vessels (although even these have deep drafts), are best avoided if you really do turn green at the sight of a whitecap, although more often than not it is swell rather than waves that bothers most new sailors. In more severe cases the ship’s doctor can administer an injection.

If possible, pick an itinerary that hugs the coast and on a transatlantic voyage choose a ship that’s designed for ocean travel, not cruising. With a hull designed to slice through waves at high speed, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 is the world’s largest ocean-going liner. When Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast of America last year, QM2 was the only ship that didn’t either cancel sailing or alter course – she sailed at 24 knots into an 80-knot headwind with nary a G & T spilt.

If you’re really concerned, seek advice from a specialist agent and choose a ship, destination and season that will reduce the chances of seasickness to almost zero.

Tip: Steerage (midship) is the place to be. Failing this, find an outside spot on the lower deck for that fixed point on the horizon. Consult a travel clinic or your GP: prevention is better than cure.

2. I’ll be surrounded by pensioners

The average age of cruisers is 55.6 years, but there’s no rule that says your hair has to be the same hue as the sea. Increasing value for money and cruises of shorter duration are luring younger holidaymakers, including generations of families and children. “Today, cruising is more about surf pools and chilled-out pampering than travel rugs and deck quoits,” says John Wilson, head of product and commercial at Virgin Holidays Cruises. “You can come to shimmy up a rock wall or relax at the spa; families and couples are treated equally and waited on hand and foot.”

The average age on Seabourn’s shorter cruises of the Dalmatian coast, Greek Islands and Turkey is 55. “We are also attracting honeymooners, who benefit from the watersports marina on Caribbean voyages and the off-the-beaten-track ports of call,” says Lynn Narraway, the company’s UK managing director.

On a SeaDream yacht, the average age of passengers is 46, and on P & O Cruises during the school holidays ships carry up to 800 children a week. Even Cunard, that blue-rinse stalwart, carried 350-plus children on its 21 Atlantic crossings last year (there’s a “Play Zone” for children, who must be at least one year old).

During the summer on board Hurtigruten, which plies the Norwegian coastal ports, cruise passengers can mingle with students and people travelling to see friends and family. Luxury gulets that appeal to grown-up backpackers now cruise the Turkish and Croatian coasts, and Voyages to Antiquity is working with Oxford and Cambridge universities in the hope of attracting students on board to explore the ancient civilisations of the Mediterranean.

Of course there are bores on board ships, just as there are around hotel pools. As with skiing, the one-upmanship can be fierce, and keen cruisers with a penchant for bragging rights are to be avoided. But you’ll quickly find out who they are and how to avoid them. Seating at mealtimes is far less regimented than it used to be and there are far too many distractions both on land and on board to let such irritants spoil the fun. On larger ships you’re more likely to get upset about not bumping into that couple you hit it off with on the first night .

Cruises not only bridge the generation gap, they can also be a great leveller. On my most recent trip I palled up with a fashion entrepreneur and her sugar-daddy, two seen-the-world pensioners from Kent, an eco-warrior from Seattle in her early sixties, a twentysomething from Toronto, on board with his parents, a sprightly 88 year-old who had climbed the mast to the crow’s nest and drunk the ship dry of Guinness and a 40 year-old who had chosen to cruise around the Pacific coast following a week’s backpacking in northern Costa Rica.

Keep an open mind: you never know whom you’ll meet. I once spent the best part of a week dining with an exceptionally well-travelled and entertaining retired farmer and his wife. He said he was “in blackcurrants”. As we were leaving the ship I discovered he was “Mr Ribena”.

Tip: Seek advice from a specialist cruise agent: plenty of itineraries cater to customers with like-minded interests. If you are travelling alone, choose a smaller ship or one that caters to single parents or solo travellers and has “meet-and-greet” hosts.

3. Ships are a breeding ground for germs

Norovirus has been ubiquitous this winter. In December the Health Protection Agency (HPA) reported an 83 per cent increase in Norovirus cases across Britain this season. If the virus is increasingly common on cruise ships, that is partly a reflection of the growing popularity of cruising itself.

Cruise lines, working with international health organisations, have developed protocols and isolation policies to avoid the spread of the virus. Dr Richard Dawood, a specialist in travel medicine and contributor to Telegraph Travel, says: “Norovirus is a massive issue for the industry and, mindful of the commercial consequences, I believe the larger lines are doing all they can to tackle it head-on. Hand sanitisers are everywhere, there has been a big upgrade in food handling, and medical surveillance, including high-level diagnostic testing, has increased on board.”

He stresses, though, that while the industry can reduce spread, it can’t stop passengers from bringing the virus on board.

Tip: Follow advice given by your cruise line on how to reduce the risk of becoming ill or spreading infection, both on board and ashore. Learn how to eat “defensively” (avoiding salads, buffets and ice, sticking to freshly cooked hot food) just in case you are caught up in an outbreak.

4. I won’t spend enough time in port, or get a sense of the places I’m visiting

“If you know any petrol-headed star-spotting film buffs, this is the cruise for them,” says Mike Bonner, general manager of Silversea, referring to a sailing on Silver Spirit this year that will take in the Cannes film festival and the Monaco Grand Prix. Some lines excel at getting their passengers to the heart of the action, whether by calling at a port staging a once-in-a-lifetime event or by securing berthing rights alongside a World Heritage site. Silver Cloud concluded a Baltic itinerary last July by sailing up the Thames and mooring alongside HMS Belfast on the eve of the Olympics.

It’s worth noting that mid-sized and resort-sized ships can’t dock in smaller ports and have to decant thousands of passengers, but whatever the ship, the fear of being holed up on board is unfounded: it’s not uncommon to be ashore every day. If destination is the key driver for your holiday, you must pick a ship that spends adequate time in your chosen ports. Some ports of call are little more than a cursory stop; at others the ship might stay three hours, or the best part of a day.

Cruise-and-stay packages and extended stays in port are increasingly popular. Azamara Club Cruises is offering a complimentary evening in port with options ranging from ballet in St Petersburg to a polo match in St Tropez; Regent Seven Seas includes a night in port at the beginning or end of a cruise in the price. This year it’s throwing in an extra night along with “gold” tickets for a special performance of Verdi’s Aida, in Verona, for the Opera Festival’s centenary year.

Most ships offer excursion options in each port to cater for different tastes and physical abilities. Being herded on shore with thousands of others is not the norm. Expect everything from sedate coach tours to kayaking, snorkelling, chef-led tours of food markets and zip-lining.

Paul Ludlow, UK director of Princess Cruises, says it has five types of excursion: “sightseeing and touring – which offers an overview of a destination – nature and wildlife, activities and adventure, special interest – which explores particular aspects in depth – and self-exploration”.

Tip: Dining on board can start to feel like groundhog day by day four, but Mediterranean cruises offer the best of both worlds by including two or three evenings in port.

5. Dinners will be formal and I’ll have to sit with the same people all the time

These perceptions deter many who would otherwise happily try a cruise. The truth, however, is that most of the larger lines offer more flexible and informal dining options than they used to, and open-seating policies in their main restaurants. If you’re worried, check before booking. Royal Caribbean has “my time” dining; on Saga Sapphire passengers can eat at any time in any of the ship’s three restaurants at no extra cost; and on P & O, you can turn up at any time from 6pm to 9.30pm and request a table for two.

As for dress, yes, most lines rule out shorts, flip-flops or T-shirts, but that’s true of many restaurants ashore. On Crystal cruises black tie is now “optional’ and even Cunard, the last bastion of black-tie dining, has only two smart nights on a shorter trip. Cunard doesn’t fudge the issue – strictly no casual wear on formal nights – and says many a fine friendship has been forged via the traditional seating arrangement.

Smaller ships such as Hebridean Princess and expedition ships (operated by Noble Caledonia, Voyages to Antiquity, Silversea and Quark, for example) don’t have the luxury of multiple restaurants and two sittings, but a laid-back and convivial ambience prevails among the usually like-minded clientele. On a recent expedition trip on board Orion in Australia, I sipped Penfolds Bin 128 shiraz with antique dealers from Sydney, pensioners from Perth and a former Wallabies player. The conversation was anything but dull.

Tip: Go online to ascertain how many restaurants are on board and what the seating and sittings are. Book for a ship’s speciality restaurants and, in the main dining room, ask the maître d’ if you want to spend time on your own – tables for two are often available on request.

6. I won’t be able to get online

Communications are expensive at sea. Because signals are satellite-dependent (over very long distances), service is slow and access unreliable. But the fear of being cut off from the outside world is unfounded – Wi-Fi hot spots are becoming more common and ships are making better provision, with more terminals available and technical help to hand. Seabourn Square, a buzzing internet café-cum-business centre found on Seabourn ships, is a great example of what’s possible.

If keeping in touch is an absolute priority, though, whether to monitor Facebook or your share portfolio, you ought to remember that a ship on the ocean always was, and remains, the ultimate escape from modern-day tethers. Maybe you shouldn’t be taking a cruise – and spoiling other people’s rest with your BlackBerry bleep or iPad ping.

Rates vary, but you should expect to pay about 50 cents a minute. For serious surfing, buy a package. Fred Olsen’s ships have Wi-Fi hot spots with rates from £5 for 25 minutes rising to £50 for 300 minutes; 250 minutes on board Silversea costs $85 (£54); P & O offers a pay-as-you-go rate of 50p per minute or packages that weigh in at 25p to 35p per minute depending on the plan. Cunard, which broadened its bandwidth last year, offers two hours from $48 (£30) and four hours for $168 (£106).

Tip: Catch up on email when you’re in port. Internet cafés are ubiquitous the world over and many cruise ports and portside cafés and bars offer free Wi-Fi.

7. I’ll get lost

Few hotels west of Beijing are as large as the largest liners; the world’s biggest ship rises to 16 decks. If you’re the sort who loses the car in the supermarket car park, accept that you’ll spend a chunk of your day mimicking a Pac-Man in the ship’s corridors, or simply choose a small or mid-size vessel.

There are few landmarks once you hit the corridors of a large liner (though paying attention to the art work can help) and multiple staircases, lifts and physical features that prevent you from physically crossing from one bit of the ship to the other can at times prove unfathomable. But there are maps on every deck and cabin stewards wandering around.

Royal Caribbean, which operates some of the largest ships, has fitted several with the Wayfinder – an interactive touch-screen system to direct guests around. Some ships, MSC’s included, use Braille on their signage. Allow more time to get to restaurants, theatres and pools – although frustrating, it’s unlikely to ruin a holiday.

Tip: Study the ship’s layout online and book a cabin that’s likely to be easier to locate (near a lift, say) or is not too far from a lift or staircase.

8. Cruising is not environmentally-friendly

Several cruise lines support charities in the countries they visit and try to mitigate the impact on the environment of their ships by retrofitting, switching to land-based power to reduce emissions while in port and supporting local marine bodies. But the image of a 10-deck cruise ship reducing churches and palazzi to Lilliputian proportions as it ploughs through the Giudecca Canal provokes a mixed reaction.

One fifth of the 20 million tourists who visit Venice do so on a cruise; on the contrary, in Antarctica, where strict rules govern ship visits, numbers have fallen following the introduction of strict fuel regulations. There, Quark Expeditions now offers the first carbon-neutral voyages in polar history, on board Ocean Diamond.

Elsewhere, one might argue that cruising does less damage than other forms of tourism. Isn’t it preferable to have the hull of a small cruise ship moored for a few hours a stone’s throw from the ancient walls of Kotor, the World Heritage site in Montenegro, than to have 10 coaches driving through the streets of the town?

Star Clippers says that its ships travel up to 70 per cent of the time under sail on shorter voyages; all three use low-sulphur gas oil, for which the company has been awarded the International Air Pollution Prevention Certificate. Star Flyer, closely followed by its two sister ships, was the first passenger vessel in the world to receive the accolade.

Tip: Several cruise lines have ongoing projects for those seeking to get actively involved with fundraising during a cruise. Ask about reuse and recycling policies.

9. I’ll get bored

Very unlikely. The buzzword in cruising is “enrichment,” with cerebral diversions at every turn. There are opportunities to learn fencing, improve your photography skills, learn Spanish or the piano, immerse yourself in yoga or join the cast of The Archers in a drama class.

As well as actors, your fellow passengers are likely to include historians, celebrity chefs, naturalists and authors. Even on a transatlantic crossing, on which the whole point is to escape the rigours of modern-day life, you’ll find this year on the Queen Mary 2 the travel writer Bill Bryson and that captain of industry, Digby Jones. A stellar line-up of a different kind can be enjoyed in the ship’s on-board planetarium.

“Educational and, above all, different”, is, according to Noble Caledonia, its stock-in-trade – along with speakers, the London Festival Opera can be found on a number of its cruises. Holland America Line offers Sing Live for budding choristers; Silversea has an award-winning chocolatier, Chantal Coady, leading excursions to the cooperative that supplies her King’s Road shop; and last year an academic on board Voyages to Antiquity showed guests a behind-the-scenes look at a dig in Pompeii.

Tip: Considering a new hobby? A cruise ship is a good a place as any to suck it and see, with tuition usually included in the price.

10. I’ll get fat

It’s true that it is always food-o’clock on board. Bar the “starvation hour” between breakfast and lunch, meal times can morph into one long food fest (lunch, ice creams, afternoon tea, pizzas, the cocktail hour with canapés, dinner, midnight buffet). Show a little restraint: no one told you to visit the buffet three times. Most lines offer light and healthy alternatives and there are on-deck promenades, jogging tracks and gyms to counteract overeating – but would it really be a holiday if you came back a few pounds lighter?

With the shift to a more relaxed dining style has come the emergence of speciality restaurants. Atul Kochhar, Olly Smith, Marco Pierre White, Nobu, Todd English, Jason Atherton and the patissier Eric Lanlard are all waving their culinary wands at sea.

On Holland America’s Ryndam, passengers can enjoy the menu of the renowned New York restaurant Le Cirque for a surcharge of $39 (£25) – main courses at the Big Apple namesake range from $37-$79 (£23-£50). Signature dishes from Relais & Château’s La Collection du Monde can be found on board all of Silversea’s ships and the line also partners the Italian “slow food” movement. Oceania’s newest ships, Marina and Riviera, feature six speciality restaurants apiece and the ultra-luxury line Crystal offers cheese and wine cellars overseen by master sommeliers, while SeaDream I and II have even ventured down the gourmet raw food route.

Keeping the children happy is a prerequisite of a successful family holiday. Royal Caribbean offers everything from a “cupcake cupboard” to a hot dog outlet (and, for adults, gluten-free beer, trans-fat-free meals and sugar-free desserts), while Celebrity Cruises holds barbecues on its half-acre of top-deck lawn.

Tip: Eat off ship when you can – it’s one of the pleasures of being in port and it’s amazing how the appetite shrinks when you have to pay for it.

11 It’s an expensive mistake if I don’t like it

In 2011, one of the toughest years for the travel industry, sales of ultra-luxury cruises rose eight per cent, but nearly four in every 10 cruises cost under £1,000. Cruising has long ceased to be an exclusive holiday; factor in that fly-cruises include flights, transfers, meals and, often, entertainment and you’ve little left to budget for.

Sluggish sales following the Concordia disaster saw fierce discounting, and while few offers are ever as good as they seem, this week’s deals have shaved as much as £3,440 off a sailing (a 25-night Oriental Grand cruise with Oceania, now £3,222pp). Royal Caribbean is currently offering $1,000 (£632) on-board credit (private FlowRider surf lessons, anyone?) on a 15-night cruise costing £1,099pp. Holland America, meanwhile, has an 11-night sailing from Barcelona in April from £685pp.

In the second half of 2012, more lines, including Fred Olsen, joined the all-inclusive bandwagon; from this year, Carnival Cruise Lines has rolled out a drinks package and Azamara cruises will include spirits, wines and beer and an evening shore experience on all its sailings. Saga throws in tips, insurance and door-to-door chauffeur service, and at the ultra-luxury end Regent Seven Seas, whose prices include tips, transfers and a one-night pre-cruise hotel stay, has a lead-in price of £2,149pp (£268 per day with champagne on tap).

More lines are luring first-timers by offering shorter cruises: you can even spend two nights on the Queen Mary as it sails back to Southampton from Hamburg for £399 per person sharing (including one-way flight).

Fred Olsen has 13 mini-cruises, costing from as little as £199 per person, and P & O has added nine short cruises (two to five nights) visiting the Channel Islands, Belgium and Holland.

The luxury line Crystal has added 26 European voyages of between five and eight nights (from £1,248 per person) and Silversea has announced eight new short sailings around the Mediterranean and northern Europe costing from £1,040 for four days.

Tip: If you want a certain cabin on a particular cruise, don’t wait for an offer – especially if you’re one of a group seeking cabins close to one another.